miercuri, 10 mai 2017

Islamic State has issued a video showing the beheading of what it
described as a Russian intelligence officer captured in Syria, the
U.S.-based SITE monitoring website reported on Tuesday. The Russian
Defense Ministry and the FSB security service were not immediately
available for comment. The 12-minute Russian-language video, released on
the day Russia celebrates the anniversary of the 1945 victory over Nazi
Germany with military parades, showed the man dressed in a black jump
suit kneeling in a desert scene and urging other Russian agents to
surrender. Read More

Mosul victory in sight -- at a cost

"God
save us from that rotten gang," Abu Hussain tells me. Orange-yellow
dust covers his windblown face and gray beard. His voice is hoarse.
"They've stomped on everything that means life. They've destroyed
education and culture, there were no schools, no way to make a living."
Despite gusts of dusty wind, three-month-old Mariam is sleeping
peacefully in her uncle's arms. "She's fine," he told me with a smile,
clearly happy to have made it out of the city. "She's from a well-off
family so she hasn't suffered," he said. He declined to give me his
name. Like many, he is worried about the safety of relatives still
inside Mosul. "Red death" -- "mawt ahmar" in Arabic -- is how he
describes life under